Driver ball position towards the toe?

[dominicscaife]

I had seen the toe set up on the driver from one of the Manzella instructors, can't recall if it was Michael Jacobs or Steve Khatib.

Some members pointed out there was a segment on the Martin Hall golf show about ball position and the driver sweetspot.

That's the first I've heard of people actively doing this... can someone explain the rationale?

I am aware that positioning the ball towards the toe gives an the effective clubspeed increase but does this really overcome the decrease in smash factor from an offcenter hit?

 

[natep]

I believe Hall said that you should address the ball with the driver floating a little off the ground, like at impact, with the ball in the middle of the face. Then when you set it down on the ground it looks like the ball is more toward the toe.

He did also mention that its more advantageous to hit the upper toe quadrant of the face, and hit a hot draw, than hitting the lower heel quadrant of the face, and hitting some weak shot.

 

[ScottRob]

Ben Crenshaw and Bobby locke did this on the greens. The idea being that the putter is grounded at address, but slightly above the ground (we hope!) at impact. So in order to address the ball for an on center impact (club grounded) the ball must naturally be addressed towards the toe. Or you can do what Nicklaus did and hover the club head. It gives the appearance of a inside takeaway with the appearance of an outside to in loop on the way down. Impact is not address afterall.

 

[rogerdodger]

Brian instructed me to do this last year and it made a big difference in my driving. If you look at the video he did with Michael Jacobs a few years ago, it is discussed there as well. I was a habitual heeler until I figured this out.

 

[dominicscaife]

Thanks guys, that's nothing new to me then. I actually float my driver and address it a hint towards the toe. Helps keep those nasty weak heel cuts off the menu!

I think I started doing this when our very own Martin Chuck mentioned he did the same.

 

[eoscar]

Some explanation is a little after the 4 minute mark in this video.

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